Golden Nugget Plec, Behaviour

[coady]

My plec has been in my tank for around 4 weeks now, he was introduced with Cardinals.

He was very shy at first and I didnt see him much.

The last few days, I have seen him alot more, he seems to dart about the tank quite alot, although I am glad to see him I am worried about him as this behaviour is out of the ordinary for him.

Any advice please?

Thanks.

 

[JenCliBee]

he has probably settled in abit now hence y is a little more active juviniles usually are alot more active than adults. wot are u feeding him? and has he got alot od caves/places 2 hide if need be?


jen

 

[coady]

yeah he has caves, bogwood and his favorite place the filter to hid in/on.
He is feeding on pleco wafers, chopped muscles(sp?) and also the flake that I feed the tetra, he has started feeding ont he flake alot more, i never used to see him feed.

I hope you are right, he is only young (small) will keep an eye on him, if I had only just introduced him I would think his behaviour is normal, but because i have seen how shy he was, I am / was worried!

 

[8inary]

I dont think you need worry. When I got my gold nugget, he was smallish, then again in a 1000ltr tank anything is small...anyway, I didnt see much of him for about a week and then when he came out, he skittled around the tank in a strange way, but he settled in and hopefully yours well also

 

[JenCliBee]

him/her eating is a good sign so like u say just minotor him and see how he goes also wot are ur water parameters eg ammonia , nitrite , nitrate and PH always good place 2 start with diagnosing possible problems. as longs as he seems healthy he should be fine also just monitor his stomach if it seems a little sunken it may well be thats he's not eating/getting enough food


jen

 

[coady]

him/her eating is a good sign so like u say just minotor him and see how he goes also wot are ur water parameters eg ammonia , nitrite , nitrate and PH always good place 2 start with diagnosing possible problems. as longs as he seems healthy he should be fine also just monitor his stomach if it seems a little sunken it may well be thats he's not eating/getting enough food


jen

Nitrates 0
Ph 6.8
Temp 28
Ammonia seems to vary between 0 - 0.25?
Nitrites 5 - 10

( i think that is right for nitries/nitrates its late lol)

thanks,
Coady.

 

[JenCliBee]

u shouldn't have any trace of ammonia or nitrites in ur tank wotsover it's dangerous and can kill ur fish nitartes normally would sit at around 5-25 for a typically cycled tank

how long as ur tank been running? i am guessing not long also did u cycle this tank?


jen

 

[coady]

its the nitrites at 0 then. and the other one at 5-10, like I said I wasnt sure between the two lol.

Ammonia seems to bounce between the two for some reason?

Cycle was 4 weeks fishless, using nutrafin 'cycle' then the plec and tetra was introduced.

 

[JenCliBee]

just by the sounds of it , it hasnt quite finished the cycle but water changes regulary will help.... also nutrafin cycle is just a waste of money the benificial bacteria basically would have died before it even hit the shop lol so i personally wouldnt waste any more money on it

i would just keep monitoring ur stats as this could cause major fish problems for u


jen

 

[coady]

The "Cycle" was free so I thought I might aswell use it. I am doing water changes of 25% every 48 hours, just to keep on top of things at the moment, cheers for your advice though, my fish seem happy, not swimming into glass or anything like that and not gasping, which i heard are affects of nitrite and ammonia?

Will monitor them anyway, thanks.

Coady.

 

[JenCliBee]

yw m8 hope the little 1 stays well they are absolutley gorgeous plecs


jen

 

[Ian H]

when you say you done a fishless cycle with "cycle" did you add any ammonia? or just the bottle of cycle?

As for the behaviour, mine has always been out and about in the front of the tank, he's a real show off I'm glad though since i paid £25 for him!!

I would keep up with the water changes though as they are supposed to be quite hard to keep (some people say they can't keep them at all yet they can breed zebra plecs!! i've never had a problem, but i put that down to a stable/mature tank)